Our demonstrator for October was Karla Cook. She presented a demonstration of pet portrait in acrylic.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday October 14th, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person.
Karla uses her tablet computer to display her source image.
That allows her to do some preliminary image enhancement before she starts.
She paints directly with the brush, using the image for reference.
For brushes, Karla uses mostly filberts.
Here she continues to add color to the painting.
In this photo she has painted in the eyes of the dog.
"Eyes are black marbles, with a highlight on the side of the
light source and lighter value on the side away from the light source".
She adds some cool colors to the painting.
Part way through the painting, Karla scumbles the entire surface with white.
Then, she wipes it off.
Next, she glazes over the entire painting with Burnt Sienna.
Here she is finishing up the glazing.
After scumbling and glazing, she re-establishes the color.
She does this several times during the execution of the painting.
Here is the painting as far as she took it tonight.
You can see more of Karla's work at her web site, http://karlakcook.com/
"If you paint what you love, people will love what you paint."
I believe that the inclusion of animals in our homes serves to enhance our humanity and allows us to appreciate the beauty of the world around us. For my entire life, I have been surrounded by a menagerie: Cats, dogs, hedgehogs, rabbits, birds, mice and fish have all at one time or another inhabited my heart and my home. I have found that using my love of animals with my love of painting makes for a winning combination. With each animal I paint, I attempt to bring that animal's personality through the painting to the viewer. My greatest success is seeing a smile flash across someone's face when they look at my paintings. I live in Andover, MA with my husband, three sons, two Italian Greyhounds, a variety of foster bunnies, and Stuart the Wondercat.
For years I had been a successful fiber artist, creating and teaching, knitting, spinning, felting, and quilting. Nothing quieted an insistent muse until I accepted a challenge by my oldest son and discovered painting.